RISEnergy Innovation Workshop – Conclusions and Key Takeaways
Following the RISEnergy Innovation Workshop held on 6 November 2025 in Roskilde, Denmark, a dedicated workshop report is now available. The report captures the key messages, expert insights and policy-relevant reflections shared throughout the day, spanning innovation pathways, artificial intelligence, data governance, cross-fertilisation between technologies and regulatory challenges.
This article presents selected highlights and takeaways from the report and invites readers to explore the full analysis and recorded discussions.
How can innovation, digitalisation and collaboration accelerate Europe’s renewable energy transition? These questions were at the heart of the RISEnergy Innovation Workshop, which brought together consortium members, researchers, and experts to examine how emerging technologies and coordinated approaches can speed up the deployment of renewable energy systems in Europe. The workshop was opened by Lena Kitzing (Technical University of Denmark), followed by a project overview from Peter Holtappels (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology), Coordinator of RISEnergy, who reflected on RISEnergy’s progress achieved during its first 18 months.
Innovation and AI as enablers
Two keynote presentations set the scene by addressing innovation and digitalisation as critical enablers of the energy transition.
Venizelos Efthymiou highlighted how innovation can accelerate the journey from technology development to market uptake while maintaining quality and reliability. He pointed to regulatory and administrative barriers, the need for supportive public procurement and venture capital mechanisms, and the importance of cross-fertilisation between technologies.
Kourosh Malek focused on Artificial Intelligence for Renewable Energy Technologies, outlining both its potential and current limitations. He stressed that AI can play a key role in accelerating renewable energy deployment, provided challenges related to data availability, standards and maturity are addressed. Drawing on examples from Horizon Europe projects such as SPRINT and DECODE, he illustrated how AI is already delivering promising results, particularly in grids, asset operation and maintenance.
From fragmentation to collaboration
The workshop concluded with a panel discussion chaired by Adel El Gammal, Secretary General of the European Energy Research Alliance. The discussion explored how Europe can move from fragmented efforts to more coordinated, value-chain-oriented approaches to innovation. The conversation included panellists from research organisations and industry such as Wolfram Sparber (EUREC), Mayo Garcia Rafael (CIEMAT), Thomas Garabetian (SolarPower Europe) and Ignacio Marti Perez (DTU).
The panellist highlighted:
- Defragmentation across technologies, regions and value chains is essential to accelerate innovation.
- Cross-fertilisation between technologies, enabled by digitalisation and AI, can significantly speed up progress.
- Reliable, shared and FAIR data is a prerequisite for innovation and AI deployment.
- Co-programmed partnerships and common roadmaps reduce duplication and increase impact.
- Regulatory frameworks must actively enable innovation, not slow down market uptake.
Moreover, the discussion underlined that Europe’s energy transition will only accelerate through coordinated innovation, shared data and enabling regulation.
Read the report and watch the video for an extensive overview of the RISEnergy workshop and subscribe to receive RISEnergy’s biannual newsletter.